Submitted by niaregion3 on
October 7, 2023
Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the Office of the Deputy Administrator for Engineering and Operations Sector and concurrent NIA Region III Manager Engr. Josephine B. Salazar served as one of the resource persons during the media forum by the Saturday News Forum PH on October 07, 2023, at Dapo Restaurant, 11 Sct. Borromeo St., South Triangle, Quezon City.
During the discussion, the OIC Deputy Administrator rolls out plans and actions of the Agency under the leadership of Administrator Engr. Eddie G. Guillen on how to mitigate the effects of El Niño phenomenon, especially to the identified 275 thousand hectares of vulnerable agricultural land areas nationwide.
In collaboration with the Department of Agriculture (DA) and other partner-agencies, NIA is promoting the use of short-term variety of crops to our farmers in preparation for typhoons and natural disasters. It has been mentioned that the Agency is now practicing some climate change-resilient projects, such as implementation of drip irrigation/sprinkler systems and the construction and conversion of solar irrigation projects which are fuel and electric driven proven to be financially beneficial to our farmers.
In addition, NIA is now adopting the adjusted cropping calendar by early planting to increase the agricultural production of our farmers in response to climate change.
Moreover, proposal of irrigation and flood control projects were also mentioned by the OIC Deputy Administrator, especially in the provinces of Pampanga and Bulacan. As to date, one of the proposed projects is the Bayabas Dam that will contribute to these areas will soon be awarded and start its construction being one of the mitigation measures of NIA in response to major flooding in the said areas.
Engr. Salazar added that NIA is now advancing its Integrated Water Resource Management for utilization of available water resources to maximize water not only for irrigation but also for potable water supply.
All these efforts of the Agency are in support to the plans and programs of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. to sustain the irrigation needs of the Filipino farmers that will lead to the attainment of our country’s food security.